Hard work pays off for Lake Elsinore native

By: JENNIFER KABBANY - For The Californian
Jesus 'HalfAnimal' Villa makes name for himself | Thursday, January 3, 2008 10:18 PM PST ∞

Lake Elsinore's Jesus Villa, a Cirque du Soleil "Zumanity" performer who goes by the name Jesus Halfanimal, spoke to local Boys and Girls Club members recently. Villa, recently set a Guinness World Records mark at John Carroll University in Cleveland when he performed 20 consecutive back flips across 100 yards in 21 seconds on jumping stilts.
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LAKE ELSINORE ---- A self-described teenage outcast and high school dropout, Jesus Villa, now 27, has come a long way from his trouble-filled youth in Lake Elsinore.

He said he went from being an insecure, aimless adolescent to a confident, athletic artist ---- and all it took was a little inherent talent and many years of blood, sweat and tears.

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger," he said, paraphrasing a quote by German philosopher Freidrich Nietzsche. It's a motto he says he lives by.

Villa, who goes by the stage name "HalfAnimal," is now a celebrated acrobat who has performed thousands of shows with Cirque du Soleil in Florida and more recently Las Vegas, becoming one of the company's most popular artists.

"He is a remarkably talented and unique individual," said celebrity entertainment reporter Robin Leach, who befriended Villa during his Cirque du Soleil performances in Las Vegas. "He has made a name for himself with Cirque du Soleil."

Outside of Las Vegas, Villa has been busy with other notable projects.

He recently returned from China, where he helped choreograph the opening ceremonies for next summer's Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. He's worked with the likes of P. Diddy, Jennifer Lopez and Gwen Stefani on efforts such as tours and music videos. This summer, he set a world record by doing 20 consecutive back flips on spring-loaded stilts across 100 yards in 21 seconds, a feat commonly downloaded on youtube.com.

And that's just the short list of his projects and accomplishments.

In late November, Villa returned to his Lake Elsinore roots. He was scheduled to showcase his talents for the local chapter of the Boys & Girls Clubs, but the exhibition was rained out. Instead, he showed video clips to the children and talked to them about his experiences and life lessons.

Lisa Cabulagan, a director of the middle-school student program for the Boys & Girls Clubs, said Villa was a hit, and the children were still talking about him days later. 

"He really reached out to the kids, and they could relate to him since he grew up in Lake Elsinore," she said. "He talked about how to stay off drugs by doing gymnastics. He gave them a positive message that they could achieve anything if they put their minds to it."

The message was one Villa said he taught himself when he was young. He said growing up in Lake Elsinore, he often got in trouble and had little self-esteem. When he found himself on a trampoline one day, everything seemed to click, he said.

"It made me feel free, in control," he said. "School was not meant for me."

He dropped out of Elsinore High School as a freshman and pursued a life in the gym.

"Like any kid, he's not perfect. But, other than that, he was a hard-working guy," said his mother, Lucretia Villa, a Lake Elsinore resident since 1970. "Before he started in gymnastics, he was cleaning yards. He wasn't afraid of hard work."

Hard work was exactly what Villa undertook to perfect his craft, he said. In exchange for cleaning the gym at night, he was allowed to use it during the day. Acrobatics became his obsession.

"I was there from 8 in the morning until 9 o'clock at night," he said. "When everyone was partying, I trained. On Christmas and New Year's, I trained harder. I lived and breathed this art."

In 1996, Cirque du Soleil held auditions in the Irvine gym where Villa trained. He tried out, and they told him they might call him in a few years and to keep practicing. He did, and they called two years later.

"It was like something picked me up off my feet and swept me away," he said.

He was tapped to perform as an artistic acrobat in their Orlando, Fla.-based show "La Nouba." After two years, he broke his back while warming up before a performance.

"It changed my life," he said. "I was lying on the couch watching 'Braveheart' three times a day. I learned if you love someone, tell them. If you want to do something, do it."

His rehabilitation was excruciating, an intense physical and mental battle, he said. But he worked through the pain and returned to the show. His talents then landed him jobs in the music industry with high-profile artists.

In 2003, he was back with Cirque du Soleil as a featured performer in their new show, "Zumanity," at the New York, New York Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

At 5 feet 5 inches tall, Villa boasts chiseled features, from high cheekbones to washboard abs. His heritage is Mexican and Argentine. He has a shaved head and several tattoos, including inverted flames below his elbow, his mother's name across his neck, and his stage name "HalfAnimal" across his back in an Old English font.

The HalfAnimal moniker came about during his time with "Zumanity," which is billed as the sensual side of Cirque du Soleil.

On his Web site, he describes the meaning behind the name as a "refusal to surrender; the tenacity to achieve what others call impossible; the will to survive, to overcome, to climb higher, run faster." That's the perseverance it has taken for him to achieve what he has thus far, he said.

"There's been a lot of ups and downs," Villa said. "I've had to sacrifice everything."

Villa left "Zumanity" in 2006 and continued to pursue avenues that would allow him to express his artistic side, often working with celebrities and other notables in the music, video and photography industry.

He has created a clothing line that is featured on his Web site, www.halfanimal.com.

He said that in addition to exploring new artistic avenues and opportunities, he also hopes to continue to make appearances at Boys & Girls Clubs across the nation.

"This is what I am looking for," he said, "to be able to share the truth, to be able to be honest about things I've done."

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